A teacher, sacked after he was falsely accused of molesting a pupil, has won his fight for justice.

David McPherson-Smith was cleared of two charges of indecent assault by a jury after 20 minutes at Newcastle Crown Court.

But he lost his post as a teacher of German at Brinkburn Comprehensive School in South Shields, with school governors dismissing him on the grounds that he should not have taken a pupil home without parental consent.

But a Newcastle employment tribunal has upheld Mr McPherson-Smith's claim that he was unfairly dismissed and a hearing will be held to decide if he will be reinstated or re-employed by the local authority in another post or on different terms and conditions.

Today, one furious parent, who did not wish to be named, said: "I know a lot of the parents are very unhappy about this decision. But it seems our feelings were not taken into account."

It was alleged during the court case in February 2002 that Mr McPherson-Smith, of North Drive, Cleadon, had groped a pupil in a storage area at the school and again in an upstairs office at his home. Mr McPherson-Smith, who had taught at the school for 16 years, denied the allegations.

At the end of a four-day trial, Mr Justice Henriques told him: "You are free to go. You came here as a man of impeccable character, so you leave."

But school governors said he acted unprofessionally and had brought the school into disrepute.

The teacher told the tribunal he believed the pupil had parental permission to go to his home to find out about some gardening work on the day of the alleged assault. He said that under the school's ethos of social education there would have been no problem in inviting a pupil home with parental consent.

The teacher also argued that the governors' decision was prejudiced because they had seen police statements containing allegations against him from both the pupil and a former pupil.

A former male pupil had made similar claims in a police statement, although this was never put before the jury. Mr McPherson-Smith denied the allegation at his employment tribunal in November.

The teacher said: "As far as I was concerned I had parental consent. I know of many teachers who've had pupils at their homes at my school and other schools."

But the tribunal heard from a headteacher at another school who said: "Teachers are very aware they may be vulnerable to allegations of abuse. It is difficult to see how any teacher would ever see it as acceptable to take a child home alone, with or without parental permission."

Seamus Sweeney, representing the school and South Tyneside Council, said there had been checks and balances to ensure the governors based their decision on evidence that the teacher had taken a pupil home without parental permission. The tribunal also heard that the governors had decided not to consider evidence that the teacher had given a card with his mobile phone number on it to the pupil.

The teacher said he had accepted the pupil's word on parental permission and the school secretary confirmed the pupil had phoned home.

He told the tribunal he had invited the pupil to his home after school to "weigh up" a gardening job. He said he made the invitation after the pupil had stayed behind with others to help move some stock and had some time to kill before a school event later that evening.

The pupil had expressed an interest in photography and the teacher, a keen photographer himself, had taken the teenager to his upstairs office to see his new scanner.

The pupil claimed during the court case that they were in the office when the teacher had talked about sex and had touched the pupil.

At his home Mr McPherson-Smith refused to comment today.

Coun Jim Harper, a governor of Brinkburn Comprehensive School, said: "If he's been cleared by the courts then we wish him the best of luck. If he's been proven innocent then I think he's the right to re-apply for his job."